A new study has found that scientists of Canada face more restrictions than the United States scientists. According to the study, media policies deprive them from talking to media.

Evidence for Democracy, a non-profit organization, advocates for evidence-based public policy and it has recently released the study of media policies from 16 federal departments. The organization has arranged meetings across the country in support of federal scientists in 2013.

Simon Fraser University's researcher Karen Magnuson-Ford has led the study and found that one federal department performed worse than the average for the United States departments in same studies in 2008 and 2013.

The study results were derived after assessing various factors like how accessible, consistent and clear the government departments were, and how much protection scientists were offered against political interface. The study has also considered how well the departments protect rights of scientists to give speech, and how much protection whistleblowers were offered.

According to the study, the current media policies do not allow open communication between the media and federal scientists. The study further stated, "Scientists are the best spokespeople for their own work and, barring rare instances where information is highly sensitive, it is essential that they be able to communicate their expertise to the media and the public".

Media policies of each department were scored on 14 specific criteria. There were three government departments, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Transport Canada, without their own policies. These departments scored more on general overall communications policy of federal government.

Co-author of the study and executive director of Evidence for Democracy, Katie Gibbs, said that the best-case scenario is when journalists and scientists are allowed to talk directly. On the other hand, the worst-case scenario is when scientists have to pass everything on to communication staff.